«¡España viva!»: Personifications of Spain in Lope de Vega's «comedias de santos»

Abstract

This study concerns the personification España as she appears, briefly, in four saints' plays by Lope de Vega. It presents an analysis of her function, character, and likely appearance. It argues that Lope deploys España -in the majority of cases in commissioned plays forming part of public festivals of national significance-to advocate the hispanicization of the lives of non-Spanish saints and of universal Catholic dogma. The essay argues further that, influenced by the iconographic and emblematic traditions, España is characterized by Lope as courteous and genteel at home, but feisty and belligerent when faced with foreign adversaries, her appearance on stage probably reflecting aspects of that character. ResumeNEste estudio trata de la personificación de España, que interviene brevemente en cuatro comedias de santos de Lope de Vega. Ofrece un análisis de su función, carácter y probable aspecto físico. Sostiene que Lope hace uso de España -en la mayoría de los casos en comedias de encargo que formaban parte de fiestas públicas de importancia nacional-a fin de abogar por la hispanización de las vidas de santos no españoles y del dogma católico universal. El artículo sostiene, además, que, bajo la influencia de las tradiciones iconográfica y emblemática, Lope caracteriza a España como mujer, en casa, cortés y gentil, pero pendenciera y belicosa cuando se enfrenta a adversarios extranjeros, caracterización que probablemente se vería reflejada hasta cierto punto en la apariencia dada al personaje sobre el tablado. PalabRas Clave: Lope de Vega; comedias de santos; España; personificación; alegoría; hispanización. Personifi cations of Spain in Lope de Vega Comedias de santos 529 http://revistes.uab.cat/anuariolopedevega T he frequent deployment of non-human characters is a distinctive feature of Golden-Age hagiographic drama. Non-human characters intervene in every one of the twenty-five comedias by Lope de Vega that can, according to the criteria applied by Robert Morrison [2000:97], legitimately be considered saints' plays. 1 Lope's non-human characters fall into three broad categories, although there is often some overlap. The first category includes obviously supernatural figures: God the Father, the ascended Christ, a host of angels, and the saints in heaven, opposed by the devil and an army of demons, including named ones such as Lucifer, Satanás, and Astarot (all or several of these named demons sometimes appearing simultaneously). Their dramatic functions within Lope's religious theatre are usually predictable and conventional: depending on their allegiance, they either guide and protect the protagonist or they hinder and harm him. The second major group includes characters often -I think unhelpfully-described as allegorical figures. Many of these do bear the names of abstract ideas, of the virtues and vices, La Misericordia and La Avaricia, for instance. But these characters typically exist at the same diegetic level as the human characters and function in manners virtually indistinguishable from the angels ...